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Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Yesterday I:*did two loads of laundry*washed the dishes*organized the fridge*stitched up some matryoshkas*worked on my research paper*snacked on a chocolate bar*made shortbread dough*went to the market*made dinner*napped*laughed*danced (does car dancing count?)*made the mister smile*did not stress over my research paper

I still need to:*sweep the floor*write a paper for school*clean just a little bit*bathe*stretch*work on tree swap*work on blanket article*receive my copy of Artful Blogging

So how about some pictures...My desk this morning.The cup of the day was full of iced chai and accompanied by a slice of red velvet cake.I'm ready for the day with my happy birthday necklace.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Today I hope to:*do laundry*wash the dishes*organize the fridgestitch up some matryoshkas*work on my research paper*eat something yummy*make shortbread dough *sweep the floor*write a paper for school*go to the market*plan dinner*clean just a little bit*bathe*stretch*nap*work on blanket article*receive my copy of Artful Blogging*laugh*dance*make the mister smile*not stress over my research paper*work on tree swap

for now, I will work on crossing at least five items off this list. If I don;t complete them all, at least I am earing fun rainbow socks...

Monday, April 28, 2008

Wow! The week was jam packed! The school quarter is coming to a close so I'm playing catch-up on my assignments. It's been a rush, rush, rush, read, read, read, and write, write, write kind of week. I'm still doing it. There were presentations, group projects and a whole lot of thinking. I baked, I cooked and we enjoyed garden fare. Meals were eaten out in the garden, movies were watched and shades were drawn to keep the heat out of the tiny casa. Clothes were hung on the line to dry and floors were swept over and over and over again. Witch-baby is shedding. There were fun visits with good friends and kidlets and there were yummy meals eaten out. We jumped, we laughed, we didn't actually dance and we wished our friend well at her wedding.

This week is going to be a rush, rush, rush, also. BIG papers need to be finished, spring cleaning needs to continue and the family a-go-go is a-going on a weekend trip to the forest! I can't wait!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The cup of the day was a vintage mug with anji green tea and some green tea soy milk. So good!My first submission for "on my desk" Wednesday is a bit of cheat as I cleaned it off yesterday. but it does look pretty, doesn't it?Today's 365 days shot is a tiny peak of me and a gratuitous shot of my ribbon collection. I love all the happy colors and polka-dots. I could stack and re-stack the spools for hours!

Happy Wednesday folks! I hope you have a crazy amounts of color in your life!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

It is so very quiet and still in the tiny casa. All I can hear is the hum of the computer and the occasional gurgle of our old refrigerator. The clickety-click of the keyboard helps to soothe my wandering mind. There is much to do today. Where do I begin?

I have found lately that the pressures of school and the still dark mornings from the time change leave me a groggy, groggy girl when I awaken. I have the most difficult time stirring from the soft warm covers of the bed. I sleep heavily and deep while crazy dreams and stories unfold in my slumber. Once I drag myself out of bed, after getting dressed, the first thing I do is open the shade in the bedroom. The bright sunshine spills into the room and everything appears to glow. The witch-baby always, always, aways meorrws at this point and jumps from the bed to her quilt on the mister's desk chair. She does that turn, turn, turn thing that cats do as she settles down with her head tucked under her paws and her tail curled around her. She has succumbed to the sunshine and won't come out into the rest of the casa until four o'clock or so, unless she hears a can opening.

I stumble into the living room where I turn the computer on. Next stop is the kitchen where my tiny polka-dotted cup awaits the water spout and I take my morning does of thyroid. I stand at the kitchen window and hunt for birds and butterflies before beginning my morning routine. It used to be my morning "walk" through the internet would end after about an hour or so. At some point I would get breakfast and return to the screen while I surfed blogs, researched recipes, checked out flickr and answered emails. I would then click off the computer and begin my day. Lately my day doesn't actually begin. It's just there and then it ends and I am left wondering what I did. I did something, I am sure of it. Papers have been written, projects have been made, cleaning has been done yet my mind is out of line with my actions. School ends in a few weeks and will begin again soon after. I think I need to return to my list making to checking off items and rejoicing in tasks accomplished. Today I need to make a conscious effort to wake up and move purposefully. I need to get rid of the robot and turn my thinking around.

Today, it is so quiet and still in the tiny casa. Not at all what an Earth Day should sound like. Usually the casa is filled with the sounds of the birds and traffic and the usual city noises. Today it is quiet and still. The mister must have shut the windows last night before I got home from school. Sometimes quiet is good. Today is not for quiet. Today is for the songs of the world around. Today is for the music of our planet. Turn off your computers, your televisions and radios and open your windows. Take a walk today and head out into the world, greet it like you would a close friend. Today is Earth Day after all and there is no better company than the world around us.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

I live in a tiny part of a not so tiny city. Less than a mile away there is a beautiful park, scarred with burn marks from a tossed cigarette. There is a zoo nestled in between tall, peeling eucalyptus trees and a makeshift train yard full of real train cars for us to climb all over. Red headed woodpeckers fly over our heads while coyotes watch you from the shadows of the shrubbery. You can hear the quick whizz of cyclists whipping down the hills outfitted in their superhero biking gear, children bouncing around in giant inflatable castles, frenzied beat tempos of a drum circle or two, the cat-like cries of the peacocks that have escaped from the zoo and the low rush-rush-rushing of the speeding cars along the freeway that is just on the other side of the tall-tall trees.

There is city life all around us. As I sit and type this I can hear the annoying honk, honk, honking of a car alarm, the rush, rush, rush of traffic just around the corner, an airplane flying over head and the voices of the neighbors all around me. I take a deep breath, close my eyes and listen some more. I hear the wind tinkling against the wind chimes outside our front door, the territorial screech of a mocking bird, the bee-like buzzing of a hummingbird, the show-offy song of a bird I cannot name and an entire orchestra of chirps, twitters and cheeps. I open my eyes and look out over the computer to see what is outside the window and I see the pine trees across the way swaying in the breeze, a pair of white cabbage moths fluttering by, and a gold finch perched atop a sprig of french lavender. There is country life all around us if we stop to take a look.

I don't feel like spring is truly here until I hear the woodpecker pecking the telephone pole or I see that the bees have returned to the garden. So far, the woodpecker hasn't returned but the bees are out there. I hear them zip by my ears and watch them party in the spanish lavender. I can watch them for a long, long time. I do. I will sit on the back stoop and watch the bees buzz, bounce and bob all around me. I listen to the birds and try to figure out which call is coming from which bird. I stoop to pet Bug, my neighbor's cat, as he throws himself at my legs. I love this small patch of wonder we have all around us. When I am feeling overwhelmed and "on the verge", I simply sit outside on the porch, back step or in the garden. I walk from plant to plant and sniff away if the nose is working or touch the leaves if it's not. I search for bugs, mushrooms & spiders and hum to myself. It helps me to feel centered, touching what is around me. Sometimes this world seems so huge, so vast. I feel lost and alone. Then, there are times when the wonder of it all makes me feel whole. Today I got to witness something wonderful and amazing. It involved a spider and it may seem freakish or not so wonderful to you but to me, it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I got to experience it. We are spider people in the tiny casa. We don't kill them (well, most of them), we move around them or if they are alarming or huge, we put them outside. Today, when I was washing the dishes I noticed a spider in the fruit bowl. I took a look and said hello and continued with my task. After a while I noticed she was still in the fruitbowl and I took a closer look to find that she was laying her eggs. A spider was laying eggs in my fruitbowl! I spent the next fifteen minutes watching this amazing and wonderful sight. She's still there, slowly wrapping her nest with her soft silk, taking a breather every once in awhile. Sometimes this world seems so huge, so vast, I feel lost and alone. Not today my friends, not today.

Monday, April 14, 2008

What a week! (I always say that, don't I?) There was busy-ness and baking and laundry and a lot of catching up. There was party planning and parasols and super hot, hat weather! I cooked, I cleaned, I planned, I worked on school work and I now I have a cold. Drats! How was your week?

This week will be more of the same without the party planning. We're having summer heat weather here and I have so, so, so much to do! There is home work, work work and school work this week! Oh and then a tiny squeeze into the Y for some workout fun, a meeting all about granny stuff, and an orthodontist appointment. Yikes! I'll catch ya later, gotta git to school!

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Howdy folks! I just wanted to thank you all on your response to my baking and clutter post. I want to assure you that I wasn't over the top stressed about it but matter of factly stating..."I'm a Mess!"

Last night while watching one of those criminal shows, someone said that when your life is in order, your home is in order and I looked around the tiny casa and started cracking up. I don't feel like my life is out of order but the clutter does indeed get to me in a "yikes, where do I start?" kind of way. In other words, I meant the post to come off as being humorous...I hope it at least gave you a giggle, especially to those of you who are in the same boat.

We love the tiny casa and feel very lucky to live here. The tiny-ness of course is not fun but living in Los Angeles is not very nice on your bank account. That coupled with my school which is insanely not nice on our bank account, we will live here until the cows come home. Owning or building a home someday is a dream of ours but at the rate things rise here in Lala-land, it ain't gonna happen here. What do you do when you love where you live but can't afford to live there? Some days it makes us very, very sad. Others, we roll with it. Sometimes we fantasize about running away to New Zealand or the middle of nowhere and other times we take a mini day trip and pretend we are running away. Who knows? Maybe someday we will find the perfect place and it will welcome us with open arms (and a couple of chickens, a pygmy goat and a wrap around porch).

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

I love to bake. I love to bake pretty things more than I like to eat them. I think that if there were a beautiful buffet set out in front of me with all the baked goods of the world one one side and then all the beautiful fruits of the world on the other, I would go for the fruit. Then I would go for some apple pie and then some sort of sweet bread but if there was an honest to goodness fresh baked loaf of something Italian, I just may go for that. I do love me some sugary goodness but homegrown fruit wins over a cupcake and truthfully, it's the appearance of the cupcake that I like more than the flavor. Oh my, I saw the tallest, scariest cupcake ever at my local big chain grocery store. The amount of frosting was more than the cake. I think the cupcakes stood about eight inches high and five of those inches were frosting. I just may need to get one to take pictures of. Then I will scrape all the frosting off and eat the cake.

The picture above is of a small loaf of chocolate chip banana bread. The recipe was for a raisin banana bread. I'm not a fan of raisins. Never was. I thought chocolate chips were a fair substitute. Then I added toasted pecans, wheat germ and cinnamon. I like cinnamon. It turned out a more than delicious loaf. Actually, it made a regular sized loaf and a mini loaf. It was very, very good but then again, drop a stick of butter into anything and it usually comes out good. I was thinking that why, with all that banana, would the recipe call for so much butter? I need to redo it with something else, maybe just the banana, maybe a wee bit of olive oil. I once ate a brownie that was made with olive oil and it was pretty delightful. I'm justing thinking. Hmm.

My house is a mess. A tiny cramped space of a mess. It is only eight steps fro mthe front door to the bedroom and if you were to walk into the house to the bathroom, which is in the bedroom and then back into the living room to the kitchen and then out the back door it would only be thirty steps. Tiny.It is so messy here that I cringe when I look around and then put the blinders back on and pretend it all isn't there. There really isn't any place for me to put everything. We have one closet. There is a small cabinet in the bathroom and two cupboards in the kitchen and that is it. When I sit here at the computer, I see the mess grow all around me. Oozing about bits of ribbon, tissue paper, crafty books, school texts and children's books. Sometimes a vontage hat or two scuttle by and I'm not sure how, but my sweaters seem to prefer the brekafast nook floor, not the closet. This kind of mess and clutter tend to overwhelm me so much that I can't figure out where to start. I think to myself, well, if the bed is made at least something looks pretty. And, it does. It looks really pretty.

It was a wonderfully busy kind of week and I can't remember much of it other than fun, friends, laughter and mail! I am under a gift attack from the fabulous swappers of coloriffic swaporama and they have been too, too kind to me. So much wonderful goodness keeps arriving to my doorstep, I am floored by it all. Thank you everyone! Thank you! On Saturday, the mister and I, got a bad case of the giggles that turned into full blown laughter only no sound was coming out and we were in soooo much pain! I'm cracking up just thinking about it and we both can't remember why we were laughing unless it had something to do with my pinching him. Good times!

I'll be drawing a name out of a tiny suitcase later on today to see who gets to receive a copy of Bead Simple and a few jek in the box goodies. Heck, I'll be pulling three names. One person will receive the book and the other two will receive a few goodies. Stay tuned! Oh, have you seen my new shop banner? It was made by the fabulous Taryn of My My fame. Hop on over and check it out!

Thursday, April 03, 2008

It's that time again and just so ya know, no, I don't keep the same sheets on the bed for a month without washing them. I toss them in the laundry and remake the bed with the same set for the month. I take everything off the bed to re-do the whole thing to mix it up for the month! How does this look to you? Thank you to everyone who delurked and left a comment for the Mondo Good Stuff giveaway. Thank you Susan for giving a shout out on West Coast Crafty! I'm going to do the name game this weekend and the winner will be announced on Moday. Stay tuned!

Wednesday, April 02, 2008

It seems my Mamos was thrifting with me when I hit the thrift store last week in her honor. I even found a vintage doll that she would have snatched up but I put it back. It's difficult to not buy her things but silly to do so as she isn't here to enjoy them. I did send a little loving thought her way when I found it and I would be lying if I said I wasn't talking to myself (her) when I was s hopping. No wonder people stay away from me. Hee! Do you ever find that you tend to gravitate towards one or two colors each time you shop? I do this when I thrift and when I'm looking at fabric. I don't notice until I'm at the checkout and then it's like...ohhh...yeah, yellow and olive. Here's what I picked up!

Okay you lurkers and readers! We need at least fifteen more comments from the giveaway post before I can pull a name out of a hat. Take a wander over there and let me know what yer thinkin'!

Tuesday, April 01, 2008

So many nifty things are out floating about. I want to give a shout out to two of them because well, ya know, I'm involved...The lovely Susan over at West Coast Crafty has a new book out! It's pretty nifty. It's called Bead Simple and it is chock full of fabulous ideas for making your own bits and baubles. Anyone can find a nifty project in this book. I should know as I even did one. I'm not really crafty in a jewelry kind of way but Susan's enthusiasm and instructions are so easy to follow you can't help but be inspired! There are plenty of beautiful pictures and the guest designer list is eye boggling! Check out the website here and there's also a fun flickr group. You can even score an autographed copy at Susan's etsy shop. Oh heck, I'll tell ya what....the next 25 comments will get thrown into ah at and I'll do a fancy giveaway of Susan's book and a couple of jek in the box items! So if yer a lurker and I know there are quite a few of you, don't miss this opportunity! Comment away, but be nice!

Next up, issue 9 of blanket magazine is up and available for download. It's free and it's really cool! Issue 9 is the music issue and it is jam packed with all sorts of musically inspired art, design and articles. Check out my article on how to make a mix cd and let me know if yer interested in a copy of the mix I made just for this issue. I know I owe some tunes to a few folks out there and they are coming. I need to get me some new blank cds.

Lastly for now, I will be updating the shop with new gnomie gnomes and matryoshka sachets sometime next week. I know it sounds all vague but I've got a LONG to-do list for today and then school work and grandma and then shop stuff. I'm really excited about the sachets. Here's a sneak peek...

the lovely folk

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All images and content (c) 2007-2017, Jessica Wilson, unless otherwise noted. Unauthorized use of images or content without permission is prohibited. Please give me a shout out if you have any questions! Otherwise I may have to hunt you down and kick you in the shins.

p.s. if you do link up or repost, please, please, please note that this blog is named scrumdillydilly not Scrumdillydilly. Thank you.______________________________________________